DNA damage in fish (Anguilla anguilla) exposed to a glyphosate-based herbicide - elucidation of organ-specificity and the role of oxidative stress
Organophosphate herbicides are among the most dangerous agrochemicals for the aquatic environment. In this context, Roundup(®), a glyphosate-based herbicide, has been widely detected in natural water bodies, representing a potential threat to non-target organisms, namely fish. Thus, the main goal of...
| Published in: | Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10773/26649 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2011.10.017 |
| Summary: | Organophosphate herbicides are among the most dangerous agrochemicals for the aquatic environment. In this context, Roundup(®), a glyphosate-based herbicide, has been widely detected in natural water bodies, representing a potential threat to non-target organisms, namely fish. Thus, the main goal of the present study was to evaluate the genotoxic potential of Roundup(®) in the teleost fish Anguilla anguilla, addressing the possible causative involvement of oxidative stress. Fish were exposed to environmentally realistic concentrations of this herbicide (58 and 116 μgL(-1)) during one or three days. The standard procedure of the comet assay was applied to gill and liver cells in order to determine organ-specific genetic damage. Since liver is a central organ in xenobiotic metabolism, nucleoids of hepatic cells were also incubated with a lesion-specific repair enzyme (formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase - FPG), in order to recognise oxidised purines. Antioxidants were determined in both organs as indicators of pro-oxidant state. In general, both organs displayed an increase in DNA damage for the two Roundup(®) concentrations and exposure times, although liver showed to be less susceptible to the lower concentration. The enzyme-modified comet assay showed the occurrence of FPG-sensitive sites in liver only after a 3-day exposure to the higher Roundup(®) concentration. The antioxidant defences were in general unresponsive, despite a single increment of catalase activity in gills (116 μgL(-1), 3-day) and a decrease of superoxide dismutase activity in liver (58 μgL(-1), 3-day). Overall, the mechanisms involved in Roundup(®)-induced DNA strand-breaks showed to be similar in both organs. Nevertheless, it was demonstrated that the type of DNA damage varies with the concentration and exposure duration. Hence, after 1-day exposure, an increase on pro-oxidant state is not a necessary condition for the induction of DNA-damaging effects of Roundup(®). By increasing the duration of exposure to three days, ROS-dependent ... |
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